The present invention relates to an apparatus used for the assembly of a semiconductor device such as an Integrated circuit (xe2x80x9cICxe2x80x9d) package, and in particular to an apparatus that automates the assembly process.
Typically, the manufacture of an IC package from the raw-material stage to the finished product involves a plurality of processes. In the case of leadframe packages, semiconductor die is first bonded to a leadframe by a bonding agent. Thereafter, the leadframe is heated in a curing oven to strengthen the bond between the die and the leadframe. The bonding pads of the die and the load frame are then bonded to each other for conductivity by means of wire-bonding, commonly using gold or copper wires. The die is thereafter encapsulated with a resin material, which is molded over the die and leadframe. The resin material is then cured by heating before each encapsulated die is singulated from the other dies in the leadframe by a so-called trim-and-form machine or singulation machine. Each IC package that is so formed is then collected and sent to customers.
Conventionally, each apparatus for die-bonding, wire-bonding, molding and/or singulation is a stand-alone machine that is dedicated to its task, such as a mechanized die-bonder for die-bonding or wire-bonder for wire-bonding. This practice resulted in islands of similar equipment separated from one another. In order to transfer each set of leadframes processed by one stand-alone machine to the next machine, the leadframes processed by one machine are inserted into magazines and manually transported to another machine for the next stage of the production process. Thus, there is a need for large buffering between the processes through the use of leadframe magazines, and manual material handling and tracking, This is inefficient, and requires special maintenance staff and a number of skilled operators to operate each stand-alone machine.
Efforts have been made in the industry to automate the process to some extent by reducing manual transfer of leadframes. To do so, a conveying mechanism may be interspersed between stand-alone machines to form a transportation system for leadframe strips. The strips are transported to each of the various stand-alone machines required for the manufacturing process using conveyor belts. An example of such an implementation is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,549,716 for xe2x80x9cProcess for Manufacturing Integrated Circuits using an Automated Multi-Station Apparatus including an Adhesive Dispenser and Apparatus thereforexe2x80x9d. A conveyor belt is utilized for transferring the leadframes between a die-bonder, wire-bonder and molding machine, and for the process to be executed on a through-line.
However, although the multi-station apparatus described therein reduces the need for manual transfer of leadframes during the assembly process, it fails to optimize the advantages of automation, For example, the resulting apparatus does not cater to the fact that certain processes, such as wire-bonding, typically take a longer time than other processes, such as molding. In the event, bottlenecks are caused because a process further down the production line has to wait whilst an earlier process is being performed. Since the machines in the aforesaid patent are quite rigidly integrated in their implementation, it will also be more difficult to change machines in the production line with minimal modifications to the apparatus as a whole.
Thus, there is a desire to reduce some of the aforementioned problems with the prior art by promoting flexible integration between various machines in the production line, and at the same time, allowing the flow of materials along the production line to be managed more efficiently.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide an improved apparatus that can improve the management of the flow of materials in production line.
According to the invention, there is provided an apparatus for the manufacture of a component such as an integrated circuit chip, including: a plurality of processing stations forming a production line for the manufacture of said component; conveying means adapted to transport component forming materials from one processing station to another in the production line: and storage means of the production line for storing said materials during transport along the production line.
Using the invention, it is possible to improve the flow through use of storage devices, such as buffers. It is therefore possible to improve efficiency, yield and quality, as will be apparent in the preferred embodiment of the invention described below.
It will be convenient to hereinafter describe the invention in greater detail by reference to the accompanying drawings which illustrate one embodiment of the invention. The particularity of the drawings and the related description is not to be understood as superseding the generality of the broad identification of the invention as defined by the claims.